Case studies / Comment
The Corroded State in Nicaragua
09/11/2006 By Ivan Briscoe
In spite of myriad promises to combat poverty and eradicate unemployment made by all the contenders in Nicaragua’s 2006 election campaign, the new government of the Sandinista Front (FSLN) will take control in January of a country mired in a deep socio-economic crisis, whose state has so far proved incapable of guaranteeing basic services or minimum living standards.
The electoral victory of Daniel Ortega comes 17 years after his defeat in the poll of February 1990, which marked the end of a “low intensity” war, financed on the side of the insurgents by the United States.
He will now inherit a public sector that has passed through three consecutive Liberal administrations, and which is radically distinct to that of his revolutionary government – in which the public authorities were present in almost all aspects of daily life – and to the former authoritarian and repressive regime of the Somoza family (1936-1979).
Over 350 state firms, formerly subsidized by the Sandinistas, were privatized by the Liberal governments. The most recent Liberal president, Enrique Bolaños (2002-2007), followed the route of economic orthodoxy, stressing openness to foreign investment, a reduction in the public deficit and sound relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Keywords
Fragile state Latin America & Caribbean Nicaragua Post conflict Poverty Rule of LawRelated publications
Bio author: Ivan Briscoe
Ivan Briscoe studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at the University of Oxford, before receiving a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship to continue his studies for a year at Harvard University. He has also completed a master's degree in Development at Madrid's Complutense University. From 2004 he has worked as the editor of the English edition of El País (Madrid). He writes often on Latin America and developing world issues for Open Democracy (www.opendemocracy.net) and The New Internationalist, and has taken part in numerous radio programmes on the BBC, Radio Nederland and Radio France International.
